Fibre Channel (hereinafter referred to as FC) is a typical communication protocol used in a Storage Area Network (SAN) system in which a storage apparatus is connected to a computer serving as a server apparatus or the like. In SAN systems using FC, an FC switch is generally used to connect a server apparatus to a storage apparatus.
Port zoning is known as a technique to control the FC switch in terms of accessing. In this technique, ports of the FC switch are grouped in units of zones, and accessing is allowed only between ports included in each zone. The port zoning technique provides an advantage that setting is allowed without depending on connected devices.
In an example of an FC switch using the port zoning technique, physical ports on a side of storage apparatuses are virtually grouped, and physical ports in a group in an access path are switched depending on a load on the FC switch.
A technique to automatically correct a wrong connection in a switch is known. For example, in an optical switch having two inputs and two outputs, when a receiving unit has a received signal level lower than a particular value or when synchronization of a received signal is unstable, the switching is performed in a manner inverted from the initial manner.
Descriptions of related techniques may be found, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-330762, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-304896, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-51750, etc.